"It's too cold in here, Mr. Kazimir."
"I'll turn the heat up while you set these blankets in the bedroom. As soon as Miracle arrives, we'll go shopping for a new mattress."
Walking down the narrow hall of his old apartment, Kazimir bangs his fist against the side of the thermostat and sighs in relief as it slowly turns on.
"Do you have to do that everytime?" Khristina asks, holding Mr. FluffFluff to her chest.
"Just sometimes. Mostly in the winter, though. I guess I'll pick up a new thermostat since maintenance wants to be useless as usual. You warm up while I go get the rest of the boxes from the car."
Setting the blankets down in Kazimir's old bedroom, Khristina walks over to the window and watches as the young detective takes out two boxes from the back of his car.
"Look, Mr. FluffFluff! Do you remember Mr. Kazimir?! He's the nice man that fixed you up a couple of days ago! Let's say hi!"
Picking at the window's lock, Khristina opens it and leans forward.
"How's the weather down there, Mr. Kazimir?!"
Looking up, Kazimir motions for Khristina to go back inside and she shakes her head.
"But I feel like a princess! Can I jump and you can catch me, Mr. Kazimir?!"
"HEL- HECK NO! Go back inside and wrap yourself in a blanket, Khristina!"
Sighing, the little girl closes the window and looks over at the blankets.
"Mr. Kazimir can be no fun at times, Mr. FluffFluff."
Digging through the blankets, Khristina pulls out a large pink one and wraps it around her. Twirling around, she begins to sing one of her favorite songs before accidentally bumping into someone.
"Miracle!"
The two girls happily hug each other as they jump up and down.
"Mommy's gonna go to Blue Hills first and then to the States! She's gonna stay with my daddy in Georgia!"
"She can stay with Alexei in Blue Hills!" Khristina says, smiling. "He won't mind! I heard him on the phone with Laurenté and he said Ms. Nyelle is one of the nicest people he's ever met!"
"Everyone says my mommy is nice! Mr. Kazimir, do you think she's nice?"
"I think she's nice but also serious which is something I can understand." the detective replies as he places a box down. "Now, are you two ready?"
"Yeah!"
Following the tall man out of the apartment, Khristina and Miracle happily skip towards the car as Kazimir opens the door for them.
"Where're we going first, Kazimir?" Miracle asks.
"The mattress store and then to pick up some groceries."
"Mr. Kazimir, can you buy a new PS5 so I can play my Hello Kitty game? And can we also get a Barbie Dreamhouse so that Miracle and I can play dolls?"
"Uh, I'll see what my bank account says."
Quickly parallel parking beside the mattress store, Kazimir gets out, letting the two small girls out as well.
"The bedroom in my apartment only fits a queen sized bed or smaller." Kazimir says. "You two girls find one that you like while I talk to that guy behind the counter."
Sitting down on a mattress, Khristina lightly bounces on it and turns to Miracle.
"Do you like this one, Miracle?"
Miracle shrugs as she stares over at Kazimir.
"I'm only gonna be with you for two weeks so you should pick out a mattress you like."
After glancing at Kazimir as well, Khristina quickly turns back to Miracle.
"Why're you staring at Mr. Kazimir? Do you think he's a knight in shining armor, too?"
"No, but I think he's hiding something." Miracle replies. "I told mommy that everytime I look at him, I get this sad feeling and feel really bad for him and she said that she sometimes feels the same way."
Khristina nods.
"Sometimes when I'm at school or with one of my brothers, I feel like I want to cry and then when I see Mr. Kazimir, he looks like something bad happened."
"Maybe we should give him a hug."
"Yeah 'cause he's the best Kazimir in the whole universe! And he's nice and caring and gentle and even checks for monsters in my room!"
"Have you ever seen any?" Miracle asks, fiddling her thumbs.
"Nope! That's 'cause Mr. Kazimir scares them all away!"
"I try my best." Kazimir replies, squatting down. "Have you two found a good mattress?"
"This one!" Khristina happily yells.
"Do you like this one too, Miracle?"
"Yeah, but can I ask you a question?"
"Sure, what's up?"
"Did your mommy ever give you hugs when you were little?"
The young detective smiles and nods.
"Yeah. She still does to this day, actually. I don't mind it; I'm probably what others would call a mama's boy. Anyway, why'd you ask?"
"'Cause sometimes, you really look like you could use a warm hug."
Hopping off of the mattress, Miracle gives Kazimir a hug and he hugs her back.
"Thanks, Miracle. I mean, I probably could use a hug every now and then."
"I wanna give you a hug, too!" Khristina says as she hugs the young man.
"Thanks, Khristina. I really appreciate it."
Standing up, Kazimir motions for the store owner to come over and begins to talk to him.
"Do you think Kazimir is comforting?" Miracle
asks as she follows Khristina to the exit.
"Yeah. I can tell him stuff that I feel like I'll get judged for telling my brothers and he gives me advice."
Miracle lightly smiles as she watches Khristina stare over at Kazimir.
"I think you have a crush on him."
"How'd you know?!"
"'Cause I can sense it."
Khristina smiles and begins to spin around.
"Can you sense if we'll get married in the future?"
"No, you're not going to marry Kazimir but I do feel like you'll end up with someone similar."
"So then who is going to marry Mr. Kazimir?"
Miracle shrugs and sits down on a random mattress.
"I don't know. That one's hard to guess."
——————
"Ooohhh! Can we make brownies?!"
Picking up a box of brownie mix, Khristina shoves it in Kazimir's face causing the man to back up a little.
"You wanna make brownies with us, Miracle?"
The little girl nods and smiles as she looks up at the other boxes of brownie mix.
"Alright, we can make brownies. Miracle, is there anything specific that you'd like to make?"
"No."
Looking down, Kazimir gives her a warm smile as he follows her eyes towards the candy apples.
"Are you sure?"
"Could we try to make candy apples?"
"Why not? You and Khristina can find a nice bag of apples while I look up the ingredients."
Skipping over to the fruits and vegetables, Khristina happily picks up an apple and tosses it in the air.
"Do you like green or yellow or red apples, Miracle?"
"I like green but mommy likes yellow."
"Dréy likes yellow apples, too!"
"I have to agree with this little one; green apples are the best."
Looking up, Khristina and Miracle watch as Nia picks up an apple and inspects it.
"Hi, Ms. Nia! This is my friend, Miracle! She's gonna be staying with me and Kazimir for two weeks 'cause her mommy is traveling to the States for one week and staying with Alexei in Blue Hills for the next week 'cause she doesn't like living here in Claiza City!"
"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Miracle. Any friend of Khristina's, is a friend of mine."
"You look like a princess, Ms. Nia." Miracle says, looking up at the young woman.
"Oh, why thank you."
"Miracle, Khristina, did you two find some apples?"
Shaking her head, Khristina happily points in Nia's direction.
"No, but we found Ms. Nia!"
Kazimir chuckles as he picks up a bag of red apples.
"Well, it's nice to see you Nia but the three of us should really get going."
"Kazimir, if you or Khristina ever need anything, you can always call me you know. I heard about what happened to the house and I'd like to give my regards."
"Thanks but all I want is to find out who started the fire." the young man says, sighing. "I don't ever want to see that look in Khristina's eyes again. I'll see you tomorrow."
Walking back over to the shopping cart, Kazimir places the bag of apples in and continues to push as Khristina and Miracle walk beside him.
"Can we get the Barbie Dreamhouse now?!" Khristina asks.
"Yeah. You two go pick out whatever you want. I'll be right here in the automotive section if you need anything."
"Do you have a special place for cars in your heart, Kazimir?" Miracle asks as she follows the young man down the aisle.
"I'd say so."
"What was your first car?"
Smiling, Kazimir leans against a shelf and looks up at the ceiling.
"A murdered out 2011 Hyundai Genesis 2.0T manual coupe which I got for my 17th birthday. She was a stock model at first, meaning she had no modifications done to her but that quickly changed in about 6 months."
"Did you make your car sound louder?"
"Yeah, that was actually the 1st mod. I did a cat delete on her, that's basically just removing the thing that helps with oxygen, and mama hated it. Then came the window tint, the tinted headlights, the spoiler, and finally, a new engine."
"What happened to her?" Miracle asks as she watches the older man pick up a bottle of car polish.
"I gave her away to some guy so that I'd have enough money to go to college. I regret doing that, honestly. Look, I have some pictures that I took about a year before I made one of the worst decisions in my life."
"Oooh, it looks really cool!"
"I wanna see what looks cool, too!"
Running over, Khristina takes a long look at the car pictures on Kazimir's phone.
"This was my first car, Khristina. I was just telling Miracle all about her."
"Did you name her?"
"Yep. Her name was Black Beauty. I even had a custom license plate that said it."
"She looks sooo cool." Khristina says. "Would you take Black Beauty over the car you have now?"
Kazimir nods as he slides his phone back into his pocket.
"In a heartbeat. I miss her a lot but that's life, I guess. Now, did you pick out your dollhouse that you wanted?"
"Duh! It's too big for me to carry, though."
Chuckling, Kazimir pulls the shopping cart over to the large toy aisle.
"That one right there!"
"Miracle, you can pick a toy as well if you'd like."
"I don't want a toy, I want a car like Black Beauty!"
"Yeah, I think you might have to ask your mommy for that." the young detective replies as he puts the dollhouse in the cart.
"Can I get a bicycle then?"
"Of course. Just pick one that you like and do a small test ride in this area."
Pointing up to a small, pink bicycle, Miracle happily watches as Kazimir pulls it down for her.
"Can I have a bike too?" Khristina asks, swinging her torso side to side.
"So you don't want the dollhouse anymore?"
"I do! But I want a bike like Miracle!"
Sighing, Kazimir gives the little girl a shrug. Though his wallet would suffer, he hated to say no since she just lost something near to her heart.
"Okay, you can get a bike."
"Yay! May I have that yellow and blue one?"
Pulling the bicycle out for Khristina, Kazimir watches as the two girls happily ride around. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he were to take in another little one.